Orangeville property owners could see their taxes rise by about $50 this year — provided there are no further changes to the budget.
At the end of Monday night’s finance committee meeting (Jan. 18), a few minor adjustments saw the proposed tax levy increase drop to 2.6 from a projected 2.9 per cent hike.
Should council stick with that, the average homeowner with a house valued at $250,000 would see their taxes rise by $51, according to Treasurer Bill McKennan.
Coun. Sylvia Bradley, who chairs the finance committee, says that increase is just fine with her.
“I’m comfortable with that,” she said. “We need to take a look at the whole tax bill. The other two (county and education portions) are coming in at zero and we really need to address that reserve problem.”
The town’s reserves have been depleted in the past few years, with a little less than $3 million available in the discretionary funds and less than $1 million on hand to be used toward capital projects, McKennan said.
Coun. Scott Wilson was fine with it being even higher. “I think that’s a brilliant budget,” Wilson said of the initial 2.9 per cent hike. “Many municipalities would love to be able to deliver a budget like that.”
Mayor Rob Adams agrees it’s important to replenish the municipality’s reserves, however, he favours a smaller tax increase.
“I think it’s in the right ballpark, but I think we can do a little better,” he said. “We can’t have it at zero because we have to at least have rate of inflation ... otherwise it will catch up with us later on.”
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